Based on my personal Rotten Tomatoes ratings, 2018 was a poor year compared with the two years prior. I only rated two new movies 3.5 stars out of 5, versus 6 in 2017 and 5 plus a rare 4-star the year before.

My two favorites of the year didn’t even chart in Box Office Mojo’s domestic top 100. As usual, the top 10 were dominated by superheroes and cartoons, though a biopic snuck in. Does Freddie Mercury count as a superhero?

Some other comments on the box office:

For most of the 2010s, there have been three or four $300 to $400 million sellers at the top. 2012’s big Avengers movie bested $600 million, and 2015 saw two re-booted franchises explode: Star Wars sold over $900 million in the U.S. and Jurassic World over $600. Star Wars follow-ons also tended to do very well. In 2018, Disney again did spectacularly, with Black Panther over $700 million, another near-$700 million Avengers title, and the long-awaited Incredibles sequel over $600 million, but the Star Wars Solo was a relative flop. Like 2015, overall ticket sales were up strongly, over 7% better than the prior year.

I saw seven of the top 10. The only one I gave a 3-star rating was the latest Mission Impossible. I loved Black Panther’s Afro-futurist look, its women, and Michael B. Jordan’s villain. (I’m definitely Team Killmonger thematically.) But it was way too long, poorly paced, and the special effects were awful.

Disney again ruled the roost; its 26% market share was 10 points better than number two Warner Bros. And it’s swallowing up Fox as we speak, presumably to re-unite the rest of the Marvel superheroes.

I have no problem with super blockbusters. I enjoy ’em as much as I do movies for grown-ups. It’s just that this year’s batch wasn’t very good. I’m looking forward to the last Avengers movie, but have no desire to see Aquaman or Shazam. And not because they’re light-hearted – I’m a big fan of the funny Thor episode, even if there’s only so far improv should go.

Last year, like 2017, my tastes looked more adult. The two 3.5 star movies I saw last year:

Roma – Full of life and Cuaron’s love of this (his) family and home. The film is beautifully shot, edited, and sound-designed – by all means, see it on a big screen if you can.

Free Solo – You’ll catch yourself holding your breath during this documentary. Spectacular footage and gets pretty deep into the heads of the climber and those around him.

The best of the others:

First Reformed – Ethan Hawke takes a long look at despair. Will he emerge pastor or Taxi Driver? The script cheats a little – it’s pretty clear whose side of the modern church Calvinist Schrader is on – but the director/writer’s moral convictions are ferocious, his construction formal, and at 71, it’s his best work in 20 years.

A Star is Born – The first half is pretty terrific, but the draggy second half wilts, and I’m torn as to how effective is its meta-ness. While it’s admirably ambiguous on the “what is authentic” angle, the script – by director Cooper – cheats for actor Cooper with a lame backstory and sweetens the male resentment. And “Shallow” is no “The Man That Got Away.”

BlacKkKansman – Painful demonstration of just how little has changed. And – no offense to Jordan Peele and Boots Riley, but this is how a master handles tone shifts. The usual Spike Lee high craft in photography and scoring/soundtracking; if only the cast was more charismatic. Driver, who’s growing on me, is very good and Grace is superbly typecast. But Washington shows no signs of his dad’s charm.

8th Grade – I was cringing throughout – I can only imagine how women or parents with daughters will shudder. Pity the middle schooler. 14 year-old Fisher is terrific; was she acting? Does it matter?

Mission Impossible: Fallout – The Franchise that Never Fails. Fast chases, silly stunts, triple crosses, a new hot villainess, and the masks are back. Even earns a few laughs poking fun at Tom’s height, running, and stunting.

Widows – Artsy heist movie that doesn’t care much about the heist, but digs into the characters and Chicago race/corruption/politics milieu. Solid cast and good script.

And a handful of horror movies:

Halloween – Michael Meyers and Laurie Strode still have it. Far more than serviceable updating, with a slow build to its very tense last half hour.

Hereditary- Superbly cast with several excruciating scenes, classic camera work, and great sound design. But it lacks momentum and chickens out on its toughest themes. Those scenes will stay with you, though.

Suspiria – Nobody goes over the top like Guadagnino. (Except, maybe, Argento.)

This year’s Oscars – I went only 17 of 24 and lost the family pool again – made some, shall we say, dubious choices. They didn’t display much in the way of Big Themes in Pop Culture, either. Maybe a bit of a multi-culti vibe. Green Book was charming enough, I suppose, if glaringly obvious. And its attitudes toward race relations seemed far more Driving Miss Daisy than BlacKkKlansman.

Finally, two big disappointments. I had high hopes for what turned out to be the worst movie of the year. A Wrinkle in Time replaced spacey psychology and Christian insights with Oprah-esque self-help platitudes. Please read the book instead. And one of my favorite talents to watch, writer and sometimes director Taylor Sheridan botched the Sicario sequel badly, losing all the first one’s moral ambiguity. If you want some of that, read Don Winslow’s epic War on Drugs trilogy (The Power of the Dog, The Cartel, The Border).

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This is David Card's personal blog. I get paid to think about the intersection of media, technology and consumer behavior. Fun, huh?